This application is based on an application No. 09-251883 filed in Japan, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk which records various information, such as map information and video information, and also relates to a reproduction apparatus which reproduces such optical disks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Car guiding apparatuses (referred to as the xe2x80x9ccar navigation apparatusesxe2x80x9d hereinafter) using GPS (Global Positioning System) have been necessities for car lovers.
The GPS referred to here means an in-car system that receives radio waves emitted from a satellite orbiting at an altitude of about 21,000 km and locates the current position of a running car. A conventional car navigation apparatus is provided with a GPS antenna for receiving the radio waves, a positioning unit for positioning longitude, latitude, and altitude of the current car position, a driving mechanism for loading a CD-ROM recording map information which is used for guiding the car and for controlling the reading of the CD-ROM, a compact display for displaying a map image of the area around the positioned longitude and latitude using the map information, a microcomputer for controlling various operations of the car navigation apparatus, a keypad, and an operating unit for receiving operations via a trackball.
As a trend in the car industry in recent years, functions for supporting the car drive at a high level have been increasingly demanded in addition to the function for locating the current car position.
Typical functions for supporting the car drive include a destination setting function, a current position setting function, and a route searching function.
By means of the destination setting function or the current position setting function, a part of the detailed road map used for the car drive is displayed on the compact display. The user moves a cursor up, down, left, and right by pressing cursor keys. When the cursor is in a desired position and the user performs a determination operation, the car navigation apparatus sets the current position of the cursor as the destination or the current position of the car.
By means of the route searching function, the car navigation apparatus automatically searches an optimum route between the current position and the destination set by the user, by referring to road node data which shows passing points on roads.
The map image displayed according to the map information is for practical use only. More specifically, the roads are mainly drawn in lines, and famous constructions and tourist spots are simply indicated in character strings as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Moving the cursor on the map image drawn in only the lines and the character strings to set the destination lacks fun and it may be burdensome to the user.
The map image of a densely built-up area, in particular, is drawn in many lines and character strings, so that it will take a long time for the user to find the destination in such a dense map image. As a result, time taken for the destination setting may be increased.
In general, the user sets the destination using the car navigation apparatus provided in the car immediately before starting off on a trip. If it takes the user a long time to set the destination, the starting time for the trip is delayed. Even if the whole family get in the car early in the morning, the starting time for a family trip is delayed due to the burdensome setting of the destination and they may run into a traffic jam. To avoid this problem whereby it takes a long time to set the destination in the car before starting off on a trip, a so-called xe2x80x9chand-held car navigation apparatusxe2x80x9d can be used. The user removes the hand-held car navigation apparatus from the car on the day before the trip, for example, so that the user can set the destination in the house in a relaxed mood. In this way, when the user sets the destination in the house using the hand-held car navigation apparatus, the operation for setting the destination can be reliably performed. However, there is still a problem that the user has to reinstall the apparatus in the car. This installing operation may include accompanying operations, such as adjustment of the antenna. Here, if it takes the user a long time to reinstall the apparatus in the car, the starting time is delayed.
Generally speaking, when the whole family goes on trip, the all family participate in deciding which tourist spot they will visit. It is desirable for the whole family to decide the tourist spot to visit together with the destination. In practice, however, the destination is set by a driver or a passenger sitting on the passenger seat due to the space restricted in the car. As such, those who are sitting on the rear seat cannot take part in setting the destination even if they want. Thus, conventional car navigation apparatuses are quite unsuitable for a purpose where the whole family decide the destination and the tourist spot to visit.
The first object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk which eliminates burdensomeness caused when the destination is set by making the destination setting more enjoyable.
The second object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk and a reproduction apparatus for reproducing the optical disk, using which the user can set the destination without burdensome operations, such as the reinstallation of the car navigation apparatus in the car.
The first and second objects of the present invention can be achieved by an optical disk made up of: a rewritable area; a first read only area for storing map information that is used for navigating the car; and a second read only area for storing a plurality of pieces of video information concerning facilities located in districts included in the map information and for storing a writing command that position information concerning a position of one of the facilities that is associated with one of the plurality of pieces of video information be written in the rewritable area when a predetermined operation is performed during a reproduction of the piece of video information.
With this construction, the first read only area of the optical disk stores the map information which is used for guiding the car and the second read only area stores a plurality of pieces of video information concerning facilities located in districts included in the map data. By making the video information using filmed shots that introduces the facilities, the user can decide which facility to visit, enjoying the filmed shots of the facilities.
Together with the video information, a writing command is included. The writing command indicates to write the position information of a position associated with the video information in the rewritable area when the predetermined operation is performed during the reproduction of the optical disk. By the execution of the writing command by the disk reproduction apparatus, the destination information can be written in the rewritable area. Consequently, the user can easily have the destination written in the optical disk, enjoying the filmed shots introducing the moving picture data. The user brings the optical disk with the position information being written to the car and inserts the optical disk into the car navigation apparatus installed in the car. By doing so, the user can have the map information as the destination displayed on the compact display and also have the car navigation apparatus search the route from the current position to the written destination. In this way, the car navigation apparatus reads the position information which has been easily written by the user in the house, displays the destination, and searches the route, thereby making it easy for the user to use the car drive supporting functions included in the car navigation apparatus. The video information is displayed on the TV set in the house and the destination is written in the rewritable area in accordance with the user operation. In this way, the whole family can participate in deciding the destination and the tourist spots to visit.
The first and second objects of the present invention can also be achieved by a reproduction apparatus which reproduces an optical disk comprising a rewritable area, a first read only area for storing map information that is used for navigating the car, and a second read only area for storing a plurality of pieces of video information concerning facilities located in districts included in the map information and for storing a writing command that position information concerning a position of one of the facilities that is associated with one of the plurality of pieces of video information be written in the rewritable area when a predetermined operation is performed during a reproduction of the piece of video information, the reproduction apparatus made up of; an optical pickup for optically reading data stored in the optical disk; a driving mechanism for moving the optical pickup; a moving picture decoder for decoding read video information; a receiving means for receiving a predetermined operation performed by a user; and a controlling means for controlling the driving mechanism to move the optical pickup so that the video information is read, for controlling the driving mechanism to move the optical pickup so that the writing command corresponding to the video information is read, and for controlling the driving mechanism to move the optical pickup so that the position information included in the writing command is written in the rewritable area.
By means of this reproduction apparatus, the position information is written in the rewritable area of the optical disk in accordance with the user operation while the video images are being reproduced. As a result, the user can easily have the destination stored in the optical disk.
The first and second objects of the present invention can also be achieved by a reproduction apparatus which reproduces an optical disk comprising a rewritable area, a first read only area for storing map information that is used for navigating the car, and a second read only area for storing a plurality of pieces of video information concerning facilities located in districts included in the map information and for storing a writing command that position information concerning a position of one of the facilities that is associated with one of the plurality of pieces of video information be written in the rewritable area when a predetermined operation is performed during a reproduction of the piece of video information, the reproduction apparatus made up of; an optical pickup for optically reading data stored in the optical disk; a driving mechanism for moving the optical pickup; a controlling means for controlling the driving mechanism to move the optical pickup so that the map information is read, and for controlling the driving mechanism to move the optical pickup so that the position information written in the rewritable area is read; and a car drive supporting means for supporting a car drive in accordance with the read map information and the read position information, the car drive supporting means including a fist displaying means for displaying map image and a second displaying means for displaying a mark indicating a destination at a point according to the read position information.
By means of this reproduction apparatus, the car drive can be supported in accordance with the destination which has been written in the rewritable area of the optical disk. Therefore, the user does not need to set the destination using the car navigation apparatus in the car, and a period of time taken until the car starts can be reduced.